language

As pedagogical and educational research has shown (Mercer, 2008;
Nystrand, 1997b; Wells & Arauz, 2006), verbal interaction in general
plays an important role in the construction of knowledge. Knowledge is
constructed at the interplay of experience and the use of symbolic
systems, like language (Halliday, 1993). Through interacting verbally
with others, people construct new notions and new understandings and
thus knowledge. -- "Mirroring interaction", Femke Joyce Nijland
http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=121427

Mercer, N. (2008). Talk and the development of reasoning and
understanding. Human Development, 51, 90-100.

Nystrand, M. (1997b). What's a Teacher to Do? Dialogism in the
Classroom. In: Nystrand, M., Gamoran, A., Kachur, R. & Prendergast, C.
(Eds.), Opening Dialogue. New York: Teachers College Press, 89-110

Wells, G. & Arauz, R.M. (2006). Dialogue in the classroom. Journal of
the Learning Sciences, 15, 379-428.

Halliday, M.A.K. (1993). Towards a language-based theory of learning.
Linguistics and Education, 5, 93-116.